How to treat the success of Grameen Bank of Bangladesh?

The Association for Poverty Alleviation introduced the "poor bank" model of Bangladesh. After 13 years of rural experiment in China, the "poor bank" model in China was explored, which opened another door for poverty alleviation in China. China Road Securities Times reporter Yang Lan Bangladesh's "poor bank" is called "poor bank", which was founded by 2006 Nobel Peace Prize winner Yunus in Bangladesh. Little known is that this "poor bank" model was introduced to China as early as 13 years ago, and it was tried out in China for 13 years. Yunus's recent visit was like "a gust of wind blowing, which gave a great impetus to the development of microfinance in China", said Professor Du Xiaoshan from the Rural Development Institute of China Academy of Social Sciences. 13 years ago, that is, 1993, the research group of "Micro-credit Poverty Alleviation" chaired by Du Xiaoshan introduced the Grameen Bank model of Bangladesh, and it was carried out in five counties of China. How is it so far? An exclusive interview with Professor Du Xiaoshan by a reporter from Securities Times unveiled the mystery of the experiment of Bangladeshi "poor bank" in rural areas of China. As early as the middle and late 1980s, Du Xiaoshan began to study the field of poverty alleviation. At that time, the current situation of poverty alleviation loans was that they were either used for other purposes at different levels or lent to individual industrial and commercial households running enterprises, and few of them actually reached farmers; Second, no matter who borrows, it is almost impossible to recover. "These are two stubborn diseases, and they are also our most puzzling problems." Du Xiaoshan believes that in addition to whether farmers can borrow money and return it, the deeper consideration is whether the poverty alleviation institutions themselves can survive for a long time. At an international seminar, Du Xiaoshan found that Grameen Bank in Bangladesh solved their puzzles to varying degrees. In the early 1990s, Du Xiaoshan and others began to publicize in journals, newspapers and various seminars of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. "But no one paid attention to this at that time. Many people in the academic circles thought that their experience, no matter how good, would not apply to us." However, Du Xiaoshan and his research group hope to speak with practice. For this reason, Du Xiaoshan visited Bangladesh on 1993. Before they went, they set Yixian, Hebei Province as a test site and communicated smoothly with the local government. At the end of the inspection tour, after exchanging views with Yunus, Du Xiaoshan and others obtained a low-interest loan of 50,000 US dollars from Grameen Bank Trust Fund (GT) in Bangladesh. "His idea is' I can lend it to you, but I can't give it to you', and he has the same idea for farmers. This idea is to let farmers establish a sense of development and self-improvement. " 1994, Grameen Bank received $50,000, and Du Xiaoshan received a grant of $50,000 from the Ford Foundation of the United States, totaling $654.38+million. Next, in order to obtain a relatively legal business position, Du Xiaoshan asked the Yixian government to issue a document to allow the Academy of Social Sciences to do experimental sites in Yixian; At the same time, a non-profit corporate organization-"Poverty Alleviation Agency" was registered in the local civil affairs bureau. Poverty alleviation institutions are recommended by the local government and participate in the work of poverty alleviation institutions full-time, but they are prepared for civil servants and enjoy the treatment of civil servants. The rest of the staff are all recruited from the society and paid by the poverty alleviation office. After Yixian County, Hebei Province, Du Xiaoshan and others successively set up microfinance poverty alleviation pilot projects in Yucheng, Nanzhao, Feng Dan, Laishui and Jintang counties. It is said that at the beginning, the attitude of the State Council Poverty Alleviation Office was "verbal support" without words. It was not until199965438+February that the Poverty Alleviation Society had been operating for five years that the People's Bank of China approved the document to the Academy of Social Sciences, allowing it to continue the experiment according to the existing model. At the same time, the General Office of the State Council and the Poverty Alleviation Office also expressed their support for the following experiment. Copying the Bangladesh model "Except that the organization is different from the Bangladesh Bank, we copied its model almost intact. The biggest difference is independent operation. We should coordinate with the government and accept the guidance of the Academy of Social Sciences. Kind of semi-official. Of course, we cannot absorb storage. " Du Xiaoshan said. Although it was copied, Du Xiaoshan and others made some corresponding adjustments according to China's national conditions, which they called "Chinese-style microfinance model" (see "Operation Model of Poverty Alleviation Society" for details). Like the Grameen model, the China model also takes women from poor families as its main target customers. Yunus believes that it is because "women's mobility is low and the possibility of default is low. At the same time, because they live at the bottom of society, they have more determination and perseverance to get their families out of poverty, so they cherish the opportunity to borrow more." Among the borrowers of Grameen Bank, the proportion of women has increased from 50% at first to 96% now. Du Xiaoshan told reporters that in the China model, the proportion of female loans exceeds 85%. In fact, the Grameen model in Bangladesh can be simply summarized as follows: women as the main body, five-person group guarantee, paying back the money in installments every week, collecting group funds and compulsory savings as risk funds according to 5% of the loan amount, continuing to borrow and increasing the loan amount after repayment on schedule, and the loan is endless. Du Xiaoshan explained that in fact, the joint guarantee of a five-person group is also a form of guarantee. 200 1 By 2004, Grameen Bank began the transformation of the "Grameen II" model. "Grameen II" is characterized by adopting a flexible loan mechanism based on the borrower's personal credit. As long as the credit is good, the borrower can increase the loan scale to the upper limit of the loan amount. If the loan cannot be repaid on time, the upper limit of the loan amount will be reduced. In other words, at this time, the role of UNPROFOR has weakened and the loan period has become more flexible. In August 2004, Du Xiaoshan and his colleagues tried the second model under the guidance of Shajiahan Ali, deputy general manager of Grameen Bank of Bangladesh. "The second model includes the first model (full loan with zero repayment) and another loan method (full loan with repayment), which is a loan model with more flexible loan amount, term and repayment method." Du Xiaoshan said. When it comes to the final effect of the operation, Du Xiaoshan disagrees with the exaggeration of some media. He said with the rigorous attitude of a scholar: "Generally speaking, it is ok, but it is not entirely optimistic." Among the six counties piloted by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, the Poverty Alleviation Office in Feng Dan, Shaanxi Province was eventually taken over by the local government because of "excessive local government intervention". When doing a pilot project in Yixian, Du Xiaoshan and others set an interest rate of 8% with reference to Bangladesh's model. 1996, they set up another pilot project in Fengdan, Shaanxi. After the pilot project was taken over by the government, the interest rate dropped from 8% to 3%. Although the government's starting point is good, it is obviously "confusing the difference between credit and relief, and it is difficult to make up for the long-term deficit of the poverty alleviation society". Finally, the Academy of Social Sciences closed the pilot project in Feng Dan. "Past experience shows that the greater the degree of government intervention, the worse the management effect." Du Xiaoshan said that they later realized that if it is a short-term project, they can still rely on the government, but if it is a long-term operation, they must be decoupled from the government. Now, their four pilot projects in Yixian, Laishui, Nanzhao and Yucheng in Hebei have been decoupled from the government. As for the repayment rate, Du Xiaoshan thinks it is "getting better and better". In Laishui and Jintang counties, the repayment rate can reach 100%, but because some loans that need weekly repayment may be delayed by two or three weeks, Du Xiaoshan prefers to say that this figure is 99%. At present, except for Yucheng's loss, other points are basically flat or profitable, and the average repayment rate is over 90%. It is understood that in Yixian County, Hebei Province, the Poverty Alleviation Society has issued more than 67 million yuan of micro-loans to more than10.9 million farmers, and the support rate of women accounts for 83%. Nearly 6000 poor households in the county have achieved poverty alleviation. According to a statistical data of China Academy of Social Sciences, the poverty alleviation agency has successively invested more than RMB150,000, and issued loans of RMB10,000. At present, there are about 6.5438+0.6 million poor households supported by loans, and 30,000-40,000 farmers benefited, covering about 6.5438+0.5 million poor people. "Poverty Alleviation Society" is facing transformation. For the poverty relief agencies that are divorced from the government and commercial operation, they are faced with not only the legalization of their identity, but also a serious thirst for funds. After initially raising $654.38+million, Grameen Bank of Bangladesh successively gave some low-interest loans to the Academy of Social Sciences, totaling about 6 million yuan. "Other sources of funds are mainly grants and commissions." Du Xiaoshan said that the Ford Foundation, the Australian Institute for International Development and Yang Lin, a patriotic businessman from Taiwan Province Province, gave great support to the project. Obviously, however, limited sources of funds can't make the project bigger, which is one reason why the Grameen model has not been bigger since it was operated in China 13 years ago. "There are still problems in the governance structure of poverty alleviation institutions, and the quality of personnel needs to be improved, facing major transformation and adjustment." In Du Xiaoshan's view, these adjustments need financial support, and the Academy of Social Sciences can only lay the foundation first and strive for policies with the central government. Du Xiaoshan has another point of view. He believes that the Grameen model has been tested in China for 13 years, which has proved that this model is feasible in China, and it is time for the Academy of Social Sciences to complete its historical mission. "Our Academy of Social Sciences is not an enterprise or a bank. I am not a banker myself. We should find a good way out for our organization. " Du Xiaoshan said that he hopes that the state will introduce policies so that it can be transformed into a company or handed over to a company, handed over to a bank or set up a bank according to national policies. He hopes to reform the poverty alleviation institutions in the process of smooth transition, and finally turn them into financial or quasi-financial institutions with sustainable financial development to serve the poor and vulnerable groups. In fact, Du Xiaoshan's attempt has aroused the interest of some people of insight. Although there is no clear policy yet, it is obvious that they are optimistic about this market. At present, an investment company in Shenzhen has started to contact the Academy of Social Sciences to send professionals to help the poverty alleviation society improve its management level. Mode 1: The operating mode adopted by the Poverty Alleviation Society since the establishment of 1994. Its main features are: 1. Women from poor families are the main target customers. 2. Services from the countryside to the family. All loan applications, training, obtaining loans and repayment are completed in the community (village) where the farmers are located. 3. All loans are repaid in zero. 1 round The maximum loan amount is 1000 yuan, and the loan term is 1 year. Lending members need to repay the loan interest and principal in installments (weekly). If the 1 loan can be repaid on time, a larger amount of follow-up loans can be obtained. At present, limited by funds, the upper limit of the second and subsequent loans is 2000-3000 yuan. 4. Farmers are organized in a joint group mode, emphasizing mutual cooperation and supervision among members. The typical grouping method is: members voluntarily form a group of 5 people (immediate family members are not allowed to be in the same group), and generally 6-8 people form a center to elect the group leader and the center director respectively. Group members should help and supervise each other, play the role of joint insurance, and form their own internal restraint mechanisms. The director of the center and the loan officer call all the members to attend the center meeting every week, mainly to check the implementation of the project and the use of funds, and go through the formalities of distribution, return and storage. 5. Group funds and compulsory savings: Group funds and compulsory savings are charged as risk funds at 5% of the loan amount, and compulsory savings are returned to farmers after they pay off the loan on time. Mode 2: The experiment started in August 2004, and its main feature is: 1. Membership criteria: the net assets of poor farmers' families are not more than 20,000 yuan, and the per capita net income of families in the previous year is below 1500 yuan, mainly women with income-generating ability. 2. Group money and compulsory savings: the group money is paid off in one lump sum at 1% of the loan amount, and the compulsory savings is paid at two thousandths of the loan amount every week. 3. The form of five-guarantee guarantee remains unchanged. 4. Loan amount: 2000 yuan in the first phase, 3000 yuan in the second phase and 4000 yuan after the third phase. 5. Loan recovery: determine the amount and time of the loan according to the user's project, nature, cycle and benefit. There are two ways at present. First, pay off all the loans weekly and within 50 weeks. Second, the whole loan, that is, repayment according to the agreement, the longest is not more than nine months. The poverty alleviation agency only collects interest and personal savings every week, and repays the principal together when it is due, which is collected by the loan officer at the central meeting every week.